The night of February 16 in the 5th year of the magic calendar, for the entire dìdū superstructure, is destined to be a sleepless night.

The setting sun slowly glides on the western horizon, through the white clouds, the reddish afterglow emits the last trace of heat between the white sè heaven and earth, and the evening of the chūn season is the time when the warm south wind and the cold north wind turn around, and the wind whistling in the northern mountains can already be faintly heard outside the west gate of the empire. The Janissaries, with the cooperation of the mercenaries, shouted at the pedestrians to move as quickly as possible - according to the regulations of the dìdū administration, the west gate must be closed the moment the sun sets completely.

The whirlwind carried the remnants of snow and slammed down on the faces of the pedestrians and soldiers, and most of them gathered at the gate of the city were those who wanted to enter the city, and if they missed this last hour, they would have to walk a few more miles from the south gate to pay silver coins into the city. If you don't want to pay the money, you can only endure one more night and wait for the next morning when the eight gates are opened, it is not yet March, the cold wind in the northern region of the Eminole Continent is quite biting at night, even if you hide in the city gate hole, it is not easy, no one wants to suffer this hardship. The traveler's face was very anxious, and the mercenary-like warriors in the outermost line had begun to unscrupulously accuse the pedestrians in front of them for passing too slowly, and this moment was also when the soldiers wanted to close the team early, and the order began to be chaotic.

A few crisp birdsong suddenly came from the sky in the west, and then the sound of wings flapping in the air came like thunder, and the crowd hurriedly looked back, five huge birds of prey came to the ground like arrows, and the snowflakes flew all over the sky between the fluttering wings of the brown sè, and the knight on the back of the bird could be vaguely seen in the snow.

"Who's down!" the officer in charge outside the city gate shouted.

The knights in the sky did not slow down at all, the giant wings of the vulture of more than two meters continued to fan and accelerate, and a wild vulture suddenly lowered its altitude, wrapped in a strong wind and flew towards the west gate, most of the pedestrians fell to the ground in panic, and the soldiers hurriedly raised their shields to cover their eyes.

"The little mercenary group Vulture Swordsman Battalion, return to Dìdū to submit an urgent military situation!" Throwing a sentence with a head and no end, the vultures turned slightly to the side and passed through the west gate with ease, while the other four vulture knights flew over the heads of the soldiers on the city wall.

If someone else dares to do this, it is undoubtedly a challenge to the dignity of the Praetorian Guard, which is equivalent to challenging the Janissary Guard's dìdū and His Majesty the King, the Praetorian Guard will take it at the time with just an excuse, at least to greet the eight generations of ancestors to the distant vulture knights. Now, as soon as he heard that it was the vulture swordsman of the small mercenary group, the corners of the Praetorian Guard's officer's mouth immediately turned up, and his insincere words followed closely: "Look, what a majestic knight, worthy of the team led by His Excellency Chi Aotian, Amy, and Daqingshan, this is the style of the family." The other Praetorian Guards around were looking for teeth all over the ground and exclaiming, of course, more of a longing - even the status of the Praetorian Guard could not casually join an organization like the Little Mercenary Regiment that was full of oil and water, and "money" was like a prosperous situation.

The news spread quite quickly among the nobles, and most of the famous families already knew about it that night, and the small mercenary group sent 5 vulture knights back to Dìdū to report the emergency military situation.

Marshal Chi Datong, the Duke of the Empire, was not in Beijing, and when the Earl of Ham, the commander on duty at the military headquarters, heard the news, the coffee cup in his hand made a crisp sound on the marble floor, and the count immediately called a meeting of the giants of the military department, and several professional soldiers met (note that this was a meeting in the true sense of the word - such a challenge was difficult enough to make these soldiers meet head to head or wall), and the soldiers agreed that such bad news should be notified to His Majesty in the shortest possible time, and implored His Majesty to perform his duties.

Even if he was as calm as the Red Stone Emperor, hearing such bad news, the teacup also made a deep kiss on the ground, and the king looked down at the stained carpet and shook his head at the vulture knight Wu Chang and smiled bitterly: "It is worthy of being the subordinates of Lord Chi and His Excellency Amy, and the words are not shocking." In the past six months, I have been a little afraid of you, every time I send bad news, this time the news is even worse. ”

The people of the Frozen Continent have always been known for their sincerity, and when the soldiers of the small mercenary group heard the emperor's complaints, they really thought that Hongshi was annoyed, and hurriedly distinguished: "Your Majesty, this is ...... We can't be blamed for this, our head of the regiment said that if we had known that these bad guys were attacking the port, then we would have gone a few months later, and it would have been safer. ”

Several people in charge of the emperor's ** department didn't know what to say when they heard such rebellious words, and the commander sent back by the small mercenary group was really okay, and he directly used words he didn't like to hear to confront His Majesty, which also required a certain amount of courage. But in the majesty of His Majesty, these soldiers still observed the proper etiquette.

The little mercenary saw that no one took his ballast, thinking that his voice was quiet, and driven by his sense of responsibility for the mercenary group, he raised his voice and continued: "Our regiment commander also said that every time we make a loss-making business, if this continues, our regiment should sell blood...... Other...... Don't drag my clothes, we are poor, one person will send a body of clothes, the quality is not good, a drag will rot, I don't dare to wash it when I wear it, I am afraid that it will be damaged. I have to rely on clothes to find a daughter-in-law. ”

The small movements of the deputy head of the military training province were missed, and he smiled awkwardly, and quickly lowered his head. Several other officers immediately wet their clothes on their backs with sweat...... Just now they were going to make some small movements, but thanks to the slow movements, otherwise they would be unlucky.

The deputy head of the military department took a step forward and knelt down on one knee: "Your Majesty, most of the small mercenary regiments are the descendants of the soldiers of the Ice and Snow Continent, and they are known for their simplicity, and they have no training in the etiquette that should be performed in the court, please forgive your Majesty." ”

"Oh, it's okay, come on, reward this mercenary with an Imperial soldier's uniform. The Redstone Emperor, who knew Amy's temper well, said with a smile.

"Oh, you are so good, king, by the way, I have four brothers outside, they are working hard with me, we said that we live and die together, there is food to eat together, there are good things to share together, you can't just give me one, otherwise as soon as I go out, my clothes will be torn into several parts by them, and one person will hang a piece. ”

"Okay, one for each person. Seeing the young man's hopeful (greedy, to be precise) eyes, the Redstone Emperor regretted that he had just opened his mouth and said a word, it was clear that this young man was definitely the personal disciple of the head of the regiment, Amy, and he would climb the pole and see blood if he bit it. Unfortunately, His Majesty woke up too late, and said something even worse with one mouth.

"Thank you, the Emperor, on behalf of the more than 2,000 brothers in our group, thank you on behalf of their future daughters-in-law. You are so generous, one reward at a time......"

Redstone's ears were hot before he understood what was going on, he was excited and immediately drove the teacup in his hand to splash high, his beard, face, and clothes were really washed by the hot tea, and the disaster came out of his mouth, and His Majesty Redstone's intestines were about to regret green, and there was no regret medicine, and the emperor could not help but admit what he said - the only thing that was fortunate was that the best military uniform was only a few gold coins, which was still bearable for Redstone, who owned the entire empire.

Originally, he wanted to ask some specific things about the enemies on the Phanos continent, but after what happened just now, Redstone became quite cautious, and wisely waved his hand to let the captain of the small mercenary group retreat, until it was confirmed that the little mercenary had withdrawn from the main hall, and then Redstone officially asked the generals of the military department about countermeasures.

As the dual overlord of the Eminole Continent and the Frozen Continent, he deeply felt the inconvenience caused by the vast territory at this time. At present, there are still 25,000 jīng Rui troops in the Northern Federation, in addition, there are 20,000 regular troops in the Northern Federation, 20,000 swordsman troops, 10,000 mercenaries, and more than 10,000 noble armies, but these troops can hardly play any role across the sea; Dense forest, if there is no army deterrence, this place will definitely become a desert thieves harvesting farmland;There are still 10,000 jīng sharp troops near Tongyun Pass, and they can't be moved now, otherwise once the mercenary empire is captured, the southeast of the empire will be broken without attack;More jīng sharp troops are still pinned down on the north bank of the Lion River, although everyone can see at a glance that this time the Fanos army is by no means a feint, such a large-scale jump xìng interspersed attack must be the enemy's strategic xìng transfer, so what, there is a more terrifying-looking enemy army in front of the imperial troops, and it has already occupied several small towns in the Lion River, if there is a loophole on the battle lineIt is estimated that the Lion River Plain will face the dilemma of total fall.

The problem posed to the empire by the army of the foreign continent on the expedition to the ice port was not only the lack of troops, but also the overstretched general resources in terms of general resources, and the four aspects mentioned above all needed to have a general in charge of the army; several veteran commanders of the empire had already entered the age of the sixtieth century, and the only Marshal Chi Datong who was also the chief of the military department and was responsible for the overall mobilization, it was certainly impossible to specifically command a front-of-the-line campaign; Marquis Ji Hanfeng, the general of the Gyeonggi Defense Region, led the army outside......

"Your Majesty, can you skip the ranks and promote the newcomers in the Gyeonggi Theater?" asked the deputy military minister cautiously.

"No!" Emperor Hongshi categorically vetoed: "None of the existing captains in the Gyeonggi Theater have been promoted because of their military exploits, and most of the leaders who have been promoted in this way in the history of the empire have ended in failure. ”

"Then, Your Majesty, the minister has another proposal, can you ask His Excellency Amy, the head of the small mercenary group, to set up a temporary war zone, strip 2~3 brigades from the Colorful Dragon Knights and the Praetorian Guard, plus the existing strength of the small mercenary group, the total number of regular army troops has reached 25,000, which should be able to stabilize the battle situation. Amy's excellent command in the previous Battle of Xilin Island is obvious to all, and he is also the righteous son of General Ji of the Gyeonggi Defense District, which is also reasonable from the perspective of the fatherhood of the child. Others leading the Knights of the Colorful Dragon may still be given a cold shoulder, but Lord Amy should be fine. The Deputy Minister proposed again.

For the commanders of the Imperial ** Department, the information of the senior commanders of the entire empire, including the commanders of the major mercenary groups, has long been familiar with it, and because there has been no war for many years, the commanders of the imperial theater have been in a state of inadequacy, which is why the Gyeonggi Theater has not had a supreme commander for more than 5 years. In this case, there are only a few solutions that can be come up, and what the second elder just said is almost everyone's idea. Judging from the relationship between His Majesty and the Chi family and the level of trust in the Chi family, this is probably the most likely plan to be implemented.

"No, I can't. This denial, the Redstone Emperor thought for dozens of breaths: "Leading the regular army of the empire as a mercenary, this rule cannot be broken. ”

All the military ministers again fell into thought.

............

At the end of winter and the beginning of the month, the wind is extremely strong at night, the wind can be heard in any corner of the dìdū, there is not a trace of clouds in the sky, the red moon hangs obliquely in the southern sky, and the cold moonlight spreads all over the earth.

"Stick, stick, stick......" The sound of tapping the golden circle was heard everywhere at the same time, and the cold sound was heard far away in the air.

Except for the large lantern near the royal palace, most of the entire dìdū official residence was plunged into darkness.

Near the east gate of the empire, there was a light in a very large house, compared with the cold weather outside, the room was also cold to the bone, there was a lone lamp on the table, and a middle-aged man sat cross-legged on the bed, thinking deeply and showing a sense of helplessness. Listening to the wind outside the house getting stronger and stronger, the middle-aged man shouted outside: "Guards, come in and warm up for a while." ”

The guard hesitated for a moment: "Thank you, you are on official business." ”

"Heh......" the middle-aged man let out a long sigh, "If you want, you can go to the porter to warm up, you don't have to suffer so much." ”

As one of the governors of the Empire's highest defense region, Viscount Fan would never have imagined that there would be such a situation today.

In Viscount Fan's previous 20 years of military career, it needs to be described by four words of outstanding military achievements, one person transferred to several major war zones, and had excellent performance in previous positions, breaking through the civil status to become a nobleman in one fell swoop, and becoming an imperial general.

The defeat of the Phanos army in the Battle of the Lion River was an unprecedented defeat for the Viscount's previous record, and the pressure was even greater because the Alcatraz army occupied many small cities on the banks of the Lion River overnight, which was rare in the nearly 100-year history of the Empire.

When retreating to Lionheart City, one of his subordinates carefully asked with concern: Can the Emperor know that the Fire Lion Legion was attacked by the two armies of Alcatraz and Fanos at the same time, can you consider the Fire Lion Legion suffering significant damage from this point of view?

In front of many subordinates, Viscount Fan lost his previous self-confidence for the first time: "This ...... Your Majesty comes from a military family, and is far more familiar with the military than us, so ...... I think it should be...... We can retake the city to repay the emperor. The uncertainties in the words undoubtedly left a shadow in the hearts of the soldiers of the Fire Lion Army.

For more than a month after that, Viscount Fan reluctantly sent a mixed brigade in the hope of recovering even a small town of 3,000 people, but unfortunately, even a sharp force like the Fire Lion could not achieve victory in the face of the strong combat power of the Alcatraz soldiers. Especially the ace unit of Alcatraz Island - the Demon Hundred, such a powerful soldier only needs 100 people to take on an offensive and defensive task, and what makes the Fire Lion Legion even more cold is that the Demon Stretches its wings wide up to 4 meters can fly at low altitude and high speed, and the speed can reach more than twice that of the Light Knights.

Subsequently, with an order, the Fire Lion Legion left the north bank of the Lion River, where they had been stationed for more than 300 years, and the viscount himself was directly recalled to the Emperor's ** Department.

Viscount Fan saw in the eyes of the send-off officers that there were gods such as mercy, sorrow for the death of rabbits and foxes, and schadenfreude, coupled with the previous move of not rescuing the mercenary group of the descendants of the largest famous family in the empire, the former defense general seemed to be able to guess his own fate after returning to dìdū - what would happen to the emperor's ** department headed by Chi Datong, the three major theaters of the empire led by the Chi Hantong Chi Hanfeng brothers, and the many protégés? As a soldier who had just entered the aristocracy from a commoner, Viscount Fan really lacked the proper understanding of the many famous nobles in Dìdū, let alone which dignitaries to visit to excuse himself.

As soon as he arrived at Dìdū, outside the south gate of Dìdū, Viscount Fan was taken by soldiers to a post house specially for foreign officials to enter Beijing. It's a pity that he was arranged in the innermost courtyard, and there were double posts at the door, and he was told that he was not allowed to leave this small black courtyard with a radius of no more than 20 meters without a permit.

There is no more naked imprisonment than this, Viscount Fan is not a trace of optimism about his prospects, the only thing that surprised him is that the department to which the soldiers at the gate belong is not the Imperial Ministry of Affairs, but from the Imperial Ministry of Affairs, which has nothing to do with the military.

At the internal trial meeting on the fourth day, the first thing Viscount Fan saw after entering the hall was a stack of scrolls that were two meters high, and Viscount Fan had a feeling of lack of oxygen at that time: Viscount Fan had also participated in such a trial meeting before - of course, the horns were completely different, according to previous experience, even if it was a super big problem, the thickness of the scroll was only about 50 centimeters. With such a thick amount of information, it is estimated that it is more than enough to review all the officers of the Lion River Legion. So much so that Viscount Fan asked very disgraced at that time: "These ...... Is it all about me?"

Immediately afterwards, Viscount Fan found that it was really the deputy head of the Imperial Ministry of Affairs and the two assistants sitting in the middle of the hall, while Duke Chi Datong, the representative of the military, was just sitting on the side and listening.

Slightly different from the cold hall, Duke Chi Datong had a trace of concern on his face, and after seeing Viscount Fan enter, he didn't wait for him to come over and salute, but took the initiative to stand up and shake hands with Viscount Fan: "There is such a big thing in southern Xinjiang, the Fire Lion Legion is attacked by double the enemy, on behalf of the military department, I express my concern about the dead and wounded soldiers, after the matter here is over, His Excellency the viscount will report to the military department as soon as possible, and the other chief officers of the military department are very eager to see you." ”

In the next two months of interrogation, Viscount Fan realized that this prison disaster was very different from what he had thought before, and the accusation was examined by 73 imperial noble families in the Lion River Territory, and the accepted party was the Imperial Ministry of Noble Administration, and the charges were three: 1. Murder of 159 imperial nobles, 2. Murder of 6,723 soldiers of the imperial noble fiefs, 3. Escape, resulting in the fall of 45 noble fiefs and 21 nobles being detained by the enemy.

The titles of nobility that fall in the scrolls include all titles except prince, prince of the county, and duke, and at least 2 of them have high titles such as marquis and 7 counts, and they died due to the subjective or objective fault of Viscount Fan. The footnote to this event in the Imperial Ministry of Ministers reads: The greatest murder of a nobleman in the history of the Empire.

In the course of the trial, the Imperial Ministry continued to exonerate Viscount Fan, and every time and wherever the trial, the military department must have a chief officer above the army to observe, and the military department made it clear that Viscount Fan, as one of the highest positions in the army, could not impose any punishment during the trial. This also made Viscount Fan feel extremely surprised, and in private, he also asked the officials of the Imperial ** Department, who were slightly familiar, why the Ministry of Military Affairs helped him so much in this dispute, didn't he care about some previous suspicions? He even directly asked about the lack of reinforcements for the small mercenary group.

Viscount Birmingham, the provincial commander of the Ministry of Military Affairs, was full of surprise on his face, for the Imperial Department, especially a group of old generals and marshals headed by Chi Datong, the generals and soldiers of the major military regions were undoubtedly single-handedly promoted by them - perhaps they had not dealt directly with them before. Therefore, the Imperial Ministry basically treats all generals equally. An important general like Viscount Fan is an indispensable or right-hand hand for the military department, and after getting along for so many years, how can he still mind some of his minor problems. As for the reinforcement of the small mercenary group, in fact, the Red Stone Emperor asked about this matter many times, and even asked to send troops to respond, in the military department, Duke Chi was one of the most staunch opponents and supporters, and in this matter, the Gyeonggi Theater Governor Count Ji Hanfeng also disagreed.

"Will the military department tolerate the loss of the country?"

"Hmm...... As a soldier, it is necessary to defend the land and defend the country, but under the circumstances of the time, each commander and each army had its own limits, and afterwards, we specifically analyzed that war, which was already one of the best endings we could predict under the strength of the troops at that time. ”

Finally, Viscount Birmingham patted Viscount Fan on the shoulder: "Brother, when this battle is over, I really recommend that you come to the military department to serve for a period of time, so that you can have a better understanding of the imperial ** team." ”

Facing sincere eyes, Viscount Fan tried his best to control his face and eyes not to show his gaffe.

Under the strong intervention of the emperor's ** department, Viscount Fan has not suffered any great grievances in the past two months. It's just that the suffering of completely losing the action zìyóu is intolerable to ordinary people.

Looking at the smoke and flames of oil lamps and feeling the cold of the outer fabric, His Excellency the former general did not have any confidence in his future, and perhaps, he was forced to retire or even be robbed of his title.

Outside the house, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly sounded on the moonlit night, breaking the viscount's contemplation: Oh, at such a late hour, in dìdū, which has already entered the curfew, he can still let the horses run wild, and it is estimated that there is an emergency military situation. I don't know if it's the war situation in southern Xinjiang, it won't be bad news. Thinking of this, Lord Viscount shook his head helplessly, if he is not in his position, he is not in his position, why bother.

The horse's hooves suddenly disappeared nearby, and then there was a faint heavy sound of slamming the door, and before long, several Praetorian Guard officers pushed open the door of the hut: "Your Majesty has an order, Viscount Fan quickly enter the palace!"

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